An American Perspective from China

CCTV News: Obama’s Stimulus Proposals

I’ve just arrived in the US on a short visit to give some lectures and meet with some private equity and hedge fund clients. In the meantime, here are a couple of links to my CCTV BizAsia interviews from earlier this week.

In the first clip, I discuss the new $50 billion infrastructure spending package proposed by President Obama. The plan’s merits or drawbacks aside, I concluded that the move is more about election season politics than economic policy, since Congress is unlikely to have time to vote on it before heading home to campaign, and even the President’s advisors admit it wouldn’t actually create any jobs until next year. I also note how some key differences between the global financial crisis and the Great Depression make the American public less willing to embrace deficit spending than during the New Deal.